In the wake of a natural disaster, home or business owners may find themselves attempting to salvage water-damaged documents with a hairdryer. This desperate act is not only dangerous, but it also isn’t usually successful. This begs the question, then, of how to dry wet documents.
Your best bet is always to let the professionals take care of your wet documents, as we have the technology as well as the expertise to ensure a high rate of successful retrieval – much more quickly and effectively than any DIY method. One of the techniques we use to rapidly dry water-damaged documents is our desiccant air dry distribution system.
Pros and Cons of Desiccant Air Drying
Many businesses – such as law firms and medical facilities – must access their information daily and cannot afford to have their documents out of commission during the restoration process. This is where desiccant drying shines, as it provides quick turnaround, can be used to process large volumes of wet documents and allows access to documents during the process.
The downside to this method is that the restoration quality isn’t as high as with other techniques, such as vacuum freeze-drying. Desiccant-dried documents tend to expand and end up more wrinkled, which is why this technique is best used for files that are to be imaged or copied.
Because each method for restoring water-damaged documents has its strengths and weaknesses, it’s essential to work with a restoration firm that is well-versed in a variety of techniques and can recommend the best plan of action to meet your company’s needs.
[Photo by: Doug Letterman, via CC License ]